Sony last month launched the Xperia Z4 in Japan, forgoing the fanfare of a flagship launch, and with no word on the global availability. Now, the company has launched the Xperia A4 for the Japanese carrier NTT Docomo.

Notably, the new Sony Xperia A4 features nearly identical specifications as the Xperia Z3 Compact, launched last year. The Xperia A4 (SO-04G) will come in Grey, Pink, Blue and White colours. It is currently available for pre-orders via NTT Docomo and will start shipping mid-June. So far no pricing details have been announced for the handset.

It features a 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC with Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It packs a 20.7-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and Exmor RS sensor apart from a 2.2-megapixel front facing camera, just like the Sony Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact.

The internal storage on the handset is 16GB, which can be expanded via microSD card (up to 128GB). Much like the Xperia Z3 Compact, it packs 2600mAh battery.